no cellphone

Am I the only 16 year old without a cell phone?? I could have one, but then I'd have to pay for it with my own money, which I had much of from work, but now I'm quitting my job because it was too stressful. It seems like you just don't see even a 12 year old without one these days...

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Updated On: 2/21/05 at 03:35 PM

Don't insult me! My parents got me a cell phone when I turned 11.

I did not have a cell phone until this past Christmas( I am 17). The only reason I got the phone was because I will soon be going to college and because I spend much time working or auditioning and need to keep in contact with my family.

I do feel your pain but trust me, there is life for people without cell phones.

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Not having a cell phone would actually be very liberating. If you want to contact people, you can always go to a payphone, and if you feel like avoiding people, you just have to walk out of the house!

Nowadays, I keep my cell phone off or on silent so I can screen all the calls that I want.

And MFL...*shakes head* I couldn't even get my parents to buy me Pog when I was 11.

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Lol. I guess I need it less now 'cause I won't have to remind my mom to pick me up from work EVERYday, but it's helpful when I go out and need to stay in touch. It's just so pathetic when the little 10 year olds are like on their little phones--I guess it's pathetic for me and them also. But thanx, now I feel less loserish. When people ask me why I don't have one, I'm just like "Because my parents don't pay for it ya baby!"

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Updated On: 2/21/05 at 03:57 PM

The fact that 10-year-olds have phones doesn't reflect on you. My God, what 5th grader needs one of those things?

Sometimes I feel like the only 42 year old without one.

I hate cell phones. I couldn't stand people yapping on cellphones everywhere-- on the bus, in the grocery store, in restaurants. It drove me crazy. I swore I would never get one.

I got a job that required me to travel a lot. It was just easier to use a cell phone. I could be reached on the road at any time, no matter where I was. After I left that job, I had grown to realize that I had to have a cell phone. Other wise, No one would be able to track me down and I'd not be able to make needed calls. It was about $60 a month, but it was worth it.

Then one month I looked at the list. Not one of those calls was urgent. I was calling people while driving because I was bored. I was calling people just to check in while I was grocery shopping. People would call me while I was having dinner and I'd chat away on the phone while my dining partner sat across from me.

I realized that cell phones are horrible devices. I do think there is some sort of radiation damage to your brain: It eats away the polite, logical part first. I threw my phone away. If people want to call me, they can call my home number. If I'm not there you can leave a message. I'll get ahold of you eventually. It's never urgent.

If people could use cellphones reasonably, what a great invention. But when that cell phone rings, it's impossible to ignore it. And you end up having painfully personal phone calls in the middle of Arbys while people all around you either glare at you or talk on THEIR horrible little cell phones.

I can't imagine getting one again.

But, er, do you own one, Tiff?

I'm pretty good at knowing when to have my cell phone w/me and on, and I don't mind letting a phone call go. My roommate and my friends and I just let calls go a lot of the time, if we're having an important (or just fun) conversation. If it's important, they'll leave a message.
That said, I got my phone when I started driving (I was 15). It's important for me to be able to reach my parents driving on the highway. Also, I go to school 3000 miles from home, so I travel a lot, and I need that kind of contact just for peace of mind.

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No, I haven't, Albin. Mainly because I worry about what would happen if my phone died while I was asleep or out and I had an emergency. HAve you found it to be problematic?

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Updated On: 2/21/05 at 05:03 PM

I think cell phones are quite useful but are used way too excessively. I own one because my parents wanted me to have one when I drive (not like they didn´t survive without one though, so I don´t know). I think, some of the time, it just makes life easier if not used in excess.

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I'm in my 30s and have never owned one and can't figure out why I would want/need one. I don't like to be reachable 24/7 and when I'm out and about I like losing myself in my own thoughts or listening to my IPOD. I have a home phone with a machine, an office phone with voice mail, and two email accounts -- that's as reachable as I ever want to be.

I think they encourage rudeness (people talk too loud on them and answer them at inopportune times and places) and contribute to the overall decline in civility in society. It's stunning to see friends/loved ones gathered together ostensibly to spend time enjoying one another's company, only to see them all pull out cell phones and talk to other people, ignoring one another.

And for the love of god, the inanity of the conversations I overhear. Yammering on and on and on about nothing at all. I once told a friend that I would get a cell phone if I ever hear an important-sounding conversation on one -- I'm still waiting.

If you're a doctor -- fine. If you're a parent or a teenager, I can see having one in order to get in touch in an emergency (and ONLY for an emergency). Otherwise, I don't see the point. All those other reasons can be simply refuted by pointing out that for thousands of years, somehow human beings managed to coordinate dinner plans and make grocery lists and gossip to their hearts content without them -- WHY are they so imperative now? They seem to serve as some sort of adult pacifier, providing an outlet for people who hate the sound of silence and adore hearing the sound of their own voice -- incessantly.

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I'm with Margo on this. I have never owned a cell phone - never even talked on one. I have no answering machine or voice mail. My home number is unlisted. Anyone who actually KNOWS me knows my home number and where I work. If I am out, I am out and don't want to be bothered!